Kaiba: The Story of Seto
by Megami no Shi
Summary: This is the story of Seto Kaiba as I imagine it. It begins as a 10 year old in the orphanage, and you'll have to read to find out what happens. Tell me if it's any good please? WIP
1. Chapter 1: Sasha Mave Kaiba

MnS: Hi hi!! ^_^! I'm back with a new fic!

KnH: -_-' Great……you removed your Lord of the Rings fic because you only got 4 reviews on it….-_-'

MnS: Well……Yeah……But…This one will be better!! Seto? Disclaimer!

Seto: -_-' Megami no Shi doesn't own Yu-gi-oh or any of the affiliated people, places, or things. She owns the original character by the name of Sasha Mave Kaiba.

MnS: Lemme give you a history on the first and middle names. 

KnH: Sasha means 'protector of mankind' and 'kind, soft one'.

MnS: -_-' And Mave means 'mirth' or 'happiness'.

Seto: Right. -_-'

KnH: Well, start writing already!

MnS: ^_^ Okay! ^_^

Chapter 1: Sasha Mave Kaiba

Seto sat in the room he shared with his brother and two other boys, on top of his meticulously neat and folded sheets, laying rigid and staring at the ceiling. He was bored, as usual; he had completed every puzzle in the orphanage over six times each, beaten everyone who had challenged him to a duel monsters duel, and read three books. Now, he was simply staring at the ceiling. It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and Mokuba was playing with one of the boys from another room out on the playground in the back. Mokuba. The brunette's thoughts turned to the only one that he cared about in the world. He would do anything for the black-haired boy, who didn't ask for much more than his companionship and occasionally a game of chess. Sometimes the five year old would get his older brother (whom he called "Set-chan") to read him books before bed, like the previous night when the brunette had started to read the little one Alice in Wonderland, while Mokuba had laid his head on Seto's chest and snuggled with his older brother, in which position he had fallen asleep. It would all have been kawaii to any bystander. Getting lost in thoughts that a ten year old really shouldn't have, such as a few equations he had picked up from the math textbook he had read, and the encyclopedia he had finished the day previous, he didn't notice the crabby old woman who ran the orphanage enter the room. He was slapped out of his revive as she cleared her throat rather loudly and said,

"Seto, someone is here to see you." Icy blue eyes glared up as usual, and the mean blonde woman left the room. There was someone standing in the shadows near the door, and he couldn't quite see them clearly; the only dim light in the room came from the lamp on the table next to his bed. Then, a gentle, silver toned voice came.

"May I enter please?" Confused just slightly, Seto nodded, and the shadow moved forward. He had never been asked permission for anyone to do anything before; usually, the ones who wanted to adopt him simply came into the room and invaded his privacy without so much as a question. He kind of liked the change.

As the person stepped forward, he saw that it was a female, about 23 or 24. She had long chestnut colored hair that curled gently and landed in her mid back. It was a conservative style that didn't seem to take more than brushing it and perhaps gelling it. He kind of favored this girl already; she only seemed to do the essential things; not the meaningless primping that most women her age would. Her face was clean and free of make up, glistening amber colored eyes that were more so gold than tan smiled at him as much as her gently sloping lips. She had slightly high cheekbones that made her seem harmless and kind, rather than haughty and callous. She wore a white turtleneck, even in the heat of August, and it fell low on her hips in a very modest, and un-flashy way. She wore a pleated pale blue skirt that fell, again modestly past her knees, and flat white sandals that were comfortable looking and not dressy at all. She was definitely a casual person. On her left hand sat a gold ring that held a delicate sapphire stone in an emerald cut in it, flanked by two square cut diamonds. It was a very modest, very again, conservative wedding ring. The only other jewelry she wore was a simple necklace that fell to about collar bone level. It was a thin gold chain that held a small sapphire heart as a charm, though the chain was so thin that the light had to catch it before he could tell what held the centimeter and a half by centimeter size chain. [1]

Again, her voice came, but as she spoke, she kept her head down, in a silent submission, as if she were taking a test that she thought she had no hope of passing.

"Konichiwa. I am Sasha Mave Kaiba." Head still inclined, Seto remembered idly that the sapphire symbolized a calm submission. He looked at her with the normally icy gaze he regarded anyone who came to adopt him and asked quietly,

"Why do you incline your head? Why don't you look at me?" Gold eyes slowly came up, but looked at his shoulder, not Seto's eyes as her gentle voice came a third time.

"I do not wish to overstep my bounds, as I am not quite sure where they lay at the moment." She certainly was different than anyone else who had come; whereas they had bombarded him with questions, trying to outsmart him, she seemed to be waiting for him to ask questions of her.

"You can come over here if you want." he said after a second. He wasn't too fond of her over-amount of submission; it kind of frightened him. But, he was glad for the change of pace that was taking place; he did get sick of answering questions whenever he had the possibility of removing Mokuba from this god-awful place. Hesitantly, as if she were afraid, she came closer to the brunette and stood at the foot of the bed, head returned to its inclined position and hands clasped behind her back, though he could still tell that she was smiling. Getting slightly irritated, he said,

"You can look me in the eyes you know." Her eyes met his slowly, and he could tell that she was pleased at this command. She seemed to be one to do things only if told. Seto moved further up, sitting up and in the top right corner of the double bed where the wall also made a corner. Then, he exasperatedly motioned for her to sit also, which she did, and began to incline her head in submission again as she faced him, toeing off her sandals as she moved onto the neat blankets. She seemed to remember belatedly that she was allowed to look at him, and so, lifted her head quickly, making her hair bounce into her face. In which case, she blew a stream of air at it from her mouth, pushing it effectively out of her line of vision. Setting her hands on her knees, as she was sitting in a half lotus, she said gently,

"So, what would you like to talk about?" At this, Seto blinked. That was not a question that he had been expecting.

"Excuse me?" he must had heard her wrong. No one ever wanted to know what was on his mind except his brother. She blinked at him and for a second looked very comical before she said,

"Well, I want to talk to you, and rather than I pick the topic, I thought you might like to decide what we talk about." Seto blinked. She wanted to talk to him? This was something new. Faintly, he registered himself nodding, and then he chose a topic that he had read in a book called The Universe in a Nutshell [2] just a few hours ago.

"What do you think about Even Horizons? I was reading about them earlier, and if you know about them, would you give me your input?" He was extremely surprised when her look turned to a seriously conversational one, though her eyes still smiled and she said,

"Well, really, the idea of Event Horizons on black holes was created in Einstein's theory, E=Mc² , but there is substantial evidence that there could be another dimension in it, or at least, a portal to one. But, I read about them a while ago, and so, I could be mistaken, but I think that's correct, isn't it?" She genuinely seemed to want his contribution to the conversation, and she had answered as casually as if he had simply asked for her opinion on the weather. Blinking, he seemed to consider this as their first conversation of many began……

TBC……

MnS: So, what did you think??

KnH: It was alright.

Seto: ::scowls:: Why in the hell was I so……talkative?

MnS: Remember, this is before you met Gozobaru Kaiba, so you aren't an aloof, detached, unconcerned jerk to everyone yet.

Seto: Oh. HEY!!!

MnS: ^^;; Uh…he…he…he…RUN!!! ::speeds off::

Seto: ::gives chase, screaming obscenities and unpleasant consequences::

KnH: -_-' R'n'R before the authoress ends up brutally maimed to the point of indecipherability……-_-' 

Footnotes:

[1] - Seto takes everything apart and analyzes it, and then puts it together in the whole. I tried to make him sound like a genius………I failed miserably, didn't I? ;_;

[2] - The Universe in a Nutshell is a confusing and evil book that my Science teacher couldn't even finish reading, and he said he had been on it for weeks! ^_^


	2. Chapter 2: Meetings and a Mother

MnS: This one is fun to write, so I'm back sooner than usual!!

KnH: -_-'

Seto: There you are!!! ::lunges at MnS:  
MnS: Eeeeeep!! ::hides behind Kami no Hakai::

KnH: -_-' ::sweatdrop::

MnS: Seto!! Do the disclaimer and stop trying to kill me!! I said I was sorry!!! Many times!!!

Seto: Hn. -_-' Megami no Shi doesn't own Yu-gi-oh or any of the affiliated people, places or things. She does, however, own Sasha Mave Kaiba and this half baked and thoroughly screwed plot. But, more than obviously, you wouldn't be caught dead taking that.

MnS: ;_; Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

KnH: -_-' ::gives MnS a hug::

Seto: -_-' Just write you wuss.

MnS: ::sniff sniff:: Fine, you meany!

Chapter 2: Meetings and a mother

//

__

"Well, really, the idea of Event Horizons on black holes was created in Einstein's theory, E=Mc² , but there is substantial evidence that there could be another dimension in it, or at least, a portal to one. But, I read about them a while ago, and so, I could be mistaken, but I think that's correct, isn't it?" She genuinely seemed to want his contribution to the conversation, and she had answered as casually as if he had simply asked for her opinion on the weather. Blinking, he seemed to consider this as their first conversation of many began……

//

Four Months Later: December 23rd

Seto sat, reading a book again for the umpteenth time; he almost had it memorized for pity's sake. He had nothing to do; he hated going out in the snow, especially when there was so much of it on the ground, it having just snowed about 20 inches a few hours ago. He was completely surprised as there was a soft knock on the door to his room, but easily recovered and said,

"Come in. It's open." He already knew who it was; she was the only one who ever bothered to knock on the door before entering. Sasha wore an emerald green turtleneck that looked fuzzy and quite warm and a pair of jeans that were dyed dark maroon. Her hair was again the same way it always was, with the exception of a sprig of holly twisted in a few of the curls above her right ear. She wore white sneakers on her feet, and she was carrying something in her left hand, smiling at Seto. Then, her soft-spoken voice came across the room to the brunette's ears.

"Hello Seto-san. Am I interrupting you? I'll come back later if I am." she seemed to have noticed that Seto was reading the old worn out book that he had set in his lap when she entered. She never invaded his privacy. Whenever she came to visit, she always made sure that it was convenient for him. The ice eyed boy shook his head and said,

"No. I've already read this book; it's almost finished again anyway." She stepped forward at this and when she was closer, she said,

"I'm sorry I wasn't here last week. Mast-My husband had to take a trip on business and I had to manage the house." She approached his bedside, which was where he was sitting, and handed him the red and green package that she had been carrying. "I-I know you probably don't like getting presents from strange people, but I hope you'll like this. I found it a few days ago, and I thought of you." She always referred to herself in a derogatory manner, Seto noticed. In truth, he was surprised to see that she had had the courage to give him a present; she was very timid and didn't like to do something unless she was told. She had been coming to see Seto and his brother every week consecutively for the past four months, just to "hang out". Though, she had confided in the boy that she was trying to convince her husband, Gozobaru Kaiba, to adopt both him and his brother.

Taking the package into his lap, the brunette carefully took off the paper, which was red and green plaid with an emerald green bow on it. Opening the now revealed box, his blue eyes widened just the tiniest fraction. How could she have known?! How in the world could she have known that this was his favorite duel monster? For, as Seto reached down and picked up the card, he was amazed to read the words 'Blue Eyes White Dragon' at the top. Looking up into her smiling gold eyes, she seemed to have held a slight anxiety that dissolved as she saw him open it.

"Do you like it? I thought you might, because I've seen you duel before, and it's my favorite card." she said to him. To this, he answered,

"This was your card?" Why in the world would she have given him such a rare card? There were only four in the entire world! In response, she nodded and said,

"Yes, I have a collection, but I've lost my knack for dueling; I used to be alright at it. I've really no use for this card any more, and so, I thought maybe you'd like to have it." This was something new. He hadn't known that she had a duel monsters collection. Then, she said in a slightly more somber tone, "Besides, my husband decided that it was too much of a child's game for me to indulge in, and so, told me to get rid of my cards. This was one of the only ones I could save; he burned the rest." He burned them?! How could anyone burn a duel monsters card? That was……absurd, to say the absolute least! Seto's shock must have shown on his face, because she tried to amend, saying,

"Oh it's not _so_ bad. There were only 382, not counting the three I managed to salvage." Almost 400 cards, burned? Seto was starting to doubt that he would like this man named Gozobaru. Breaking him out of his musings, Sasha said,

"Oh, I had a question I wanted to ask you." Seto looked her in the eyes, waiting for her to continue, which, she did.

"Have you ever played chess before?" Seto nodded, having not the slightest idea where this conversation was headed. This brought the smile back to her lips as she said,

"Well, I've made a little, proposition to my husband. I told him I'd ask you if you played chess. If you did, he would play you in a game. If you won within ten moves, he would adopt you and your brother, Mokuba. If you won with eleven or more moves, he would adopt only you, and if you lost, he would forbid me to come here looking for a child again, and he would adopt neither of you. What do you say?" Seto blinked. Not where he thought this conversation was headed, that's for sure. A game of chess to decide the adoption; hmmmm… This Kaiba-san must have quite a big head to accept this; Sasha had told the brunette once that her husband (that was what she always called him) didn't like the fact that she came here so often, and wanted her to stop coming; she had refused, for reasons she would not say. Well, he was fairly positive that he could beat this man within ten moves; he'd beaten people before in four. Nodding to Sasha, he said,

"Alright. I'll play him in a game of chess. When do you think he'll come?" Sasha looked thoughtful for a moment, as if she hadn't planned it out that far yet, and finally said,

"Well, I wouldn't expect it to be after St. Patrick's day in March, and so, I'd say in about three months time. He's slightly busy with the Christmas season and all, and will be swamped for a while I think, but three months will probably be around the time that he's just coming out of that before he dives headfirst into Easter." Seto picked up what went unsaid as well. What she didn't say, though he was sure she meant for him to pick up, was that it would be soon after Kaiba-san got out of vocation, and so he would be exhausted from so many consecutive hours of work. This would give Seto the advantage of being coherent and at his best, while his opponent would be more apt to making stupid mistakes. At this, Seto smirked. Sasha must really want to adopt him and Mokuba; she was giving him every advantage, including three months to play hard until he got even better, should he so desire.

"Why don't you come outside, Seto-san? Mokuba-san and I were building a snowman before I came in. Why don't you join us?" came her voice again, timid and silvery. Seto thought about it, and then, after laying his new duel monsters card carefully in his nightstand drawer, he consented, pulling on a pair of boots after some thick socks and his only clean sweatshirt. Following Sasha outside, he joined in the traditional building of a white man in the winter time, and for the first time in his ten years of existence, he didn't mind the snow so much……

It was March 20th. March 20th was the day that Seto would meet his would be adoptive father, and when he was to play him in chess. He had played Sasha a few times every month (she seemed to be coming more frequently) and had beaten her every time in under 10 moves, and she was quite a brilliant player. Sitting in the game/play room this time, he waited for about three minutes before someone walked in. He was a tall, heavyset man, not very attractive with slicked black hair and a tailored suit on [1]. He sneered in an unkind manner at Seto as he approached the boy. Behind him, Seto saw Sasha, head bowed in the same submissive way it had been when he had first met her, and her hands were clasped tightly behind her back, left hand holding right wrist. Today she wore a pale gold colored turtleneck sweater and a pair of black pants; the heels of her very uncomfortable looking Mary Janes fell silently on the thin red carpet that was on the floor. She seemed to always be wearing a turtleneck, no matter what the temperature outside was, and she never wore anything that went above her knees. The cruel looking man raised his left hand to his shoulder, and for a moment, he thought Kaiba-san was going to strike Sasha, but what he did was hold his hand shoulder height and clear his throat. This made Sasha just about run in front of him and say,

"Kaiba-sama, this is Seto-san, the boy that you agreed to play chess with to decided the terms of adoption." Her voice quivered as it had on the first day the brunette had met Sasha; it was obvious to anyone that she was terrified of Gozobaru. Gozobaru said nothing, simply sat down at the chair across from Seto, who had previously set up the only chess board in the room that had all of it's pieces. Taking out a coin, Sasha looked at Seto pointedly and flipped it. The brunette, taking the hint, said,

"Heads." as the coin went up in the air. It landed in her delicate hand and she flipped it to the back of her right hand, showing it to Gozobaru and then to Seto in turn. It was indeed heads. Seto picked up his king's side knight, and the game began……

……Seven moves by the ten year old later, and the brunette said in a neutral tone, not betraying any of the smugness that he felt,

"Check mate." The black haired man was stunned, and it showed plainly on his face. This was not how he had obviously thought the match would go. Standing with a controlling air, he spoke for the first time to Sasha.

"Onna, wa tsuretekuru karera ni ima. Itte Kimasu. [2]." His voice was tough and unpleasant to listen to; almost like the sound of a tarp dragging on blacktop, except about 50 decibels lower. With that, Gozobaru Kaiba turned and left the room. Sasha still visibly shook, and didn't look up from the floor where she had been the entire time until they heard the door close. When she did look up, she smiled broadly at Seto and said,

"Great job. I knew you'd win; of course, you don't need me to point that out. Is your stuff packed up, or should I come and help you get ready to leave? We can go as soon as you and your brother are ready." Seto nodded and went to his room to pack up the few possessions he had, Sasha following him. Mokuba was there, just zipping up his small book bag with all of his belongings in it. When he saw Seto and Sasha walk in though, he stopped and tackled his brother in a hug, saying,

"You did it!! Yay!! I knew you could!! Now we can go live with Sasha!!" Seto smiled at his brother and ruffled his hair gently, and then said,

"Well, if I can't get up, than how can I pack so we can go?" his tone was clearly joking, and at that, Mokuba hopped off and said,

"Alright, alright big brother. I'm going to the game room to say goodbye to Sachiko and Toad." Seto nodded and began to pack up his things in the navy blue colored book bag that he pulled from under his bed, and about five minutes later, he was completely ready never to see this miserable place again. Following Sasha to the game room to get Mokuba, he wasn't surprised to see a group of kids talking to the black haired energy ball. Sasha smiled right-out at the sight, and then said,

"Can I possibly get a picture of all of you guys? Maybe around the chess board, since it's still set up?" She ushered Seto to one of the chairs, and Mokuba got into the other one, and with that, she pulled a camera out of her pants pocket and said,

"Everyone say 'Chizu' [3]!!" And with that, Seto smiled and the flash went off; he was truly happy for once in his young life [4]……

TBC……

MnS: How was that?

KnH: Better than the last chapter, though still not the best thing out there…-_-'

MnS: :P I know that already! I personally thought that it was terrible, but hey, maybe someone out there liked it? ::looks hopefully at the reader::

Reader: ::sweatdrops::

MnS: -_-'

Seto: -_-' R'n'R. Another chapter will probably be out soon. Unfortunately……

Footnotes:

[1] - I have no idea what Gozobaru Kaiba looks like, and so, I made this up entirely. Don't flame me for it please!! ^^;;;

[2] - This big long sentence means "Woman, you will bring them now. I'm leaving." And the way in which he addresses Sasha is about as degrading as you would address a slave, to put it in context for you.

[3] - Not very hard to figure out that this one means "Cheese". ^_^!

[4] - Guess what picture this is……^_^!!


	3. Chapter 3: Kaiba Mansion and Lullabies

MnS: ^_^ I'm on a roll!!

KnH: ^^;;

Seto: Dammit.

MnS: ::glares:: Do the disclaimer

Seto: ::rolls eyes:: Hn. -_-' Megami no Shi doesn't own Yu-gi-oh or any of the affiliated people, places or things. She does, however, own Sasha Mave Kaiba and this half baked and thoroughly screwed plot. But, more than obviously, you wouldn't be caught -

MnS: Dead taking that. They know. You said the same thing last chapter. Can't you have some variety!?

Seto: ::glares:: no.

MnS: ::exasperated:: Fine, I'll just start the fic then.

Chapter 3: Kaiba Mansion and Lullabies

//

__

"Can I possibly get a picture of all of you guys? Maybe around the chess board, since it's still set up?" She ushered Seto to one of the chairs, and Mokuba got into the other one, and with that, she pulled a camera out of her pants pocket and said,

"Everyone say 'Chizu'!!" And with that, Seto smiled and the flash went off; he was truly happy for once in his young life……

//

They stepped outside and Seto wouldn't have been surprised to see a black limo in front of the orphanage to pick them up. What he was surprised to see, however, was a sleek convertible black Diablo sitting out in front, engine revved and ready to roll. The interior was black leather, and there was some strange design embroidered into the seats. Taking their bags, Sasha motioned them to get in, and she put the two bags in the trunk carefully before closing it and sliding in the front seat. She smiled as she heard Mokuba protest,

"But Seto! I want to sit in the front!" She grew even more amused as the elder boy, who was also in the back, said,

"You're not old enough to sit in the front, and neither am I. We're both sitting back here." The note of finality in the brunette's voice put a stop to his brother's complaining. Looking at them from her rear-view mirror, she asked,

"Top down or up?" Immediately the younger of the two boys that she compared to a ball of living energy bounced up and down, saying,

"Down down down down down!!" Flipping the switch next to the air conditioning, she smiled as she saw the little one watch in awe as the top went down in a fluid movement and disappear, bringing the rest of the world into view. And then, the engine was revved once more, and they were off……

Seto was awed by the size of the white mansion they pulled up to, but nothing showed on his young face, save his twin chips of ice. It had to have been at least five stories high, and at least 160 feet long by 100 feet! The amazement in his eyes told Sasha that he was trying hard not to show how impressed he was; probably because if it didn't work out, it would probably be back to the orphanage. Though Sasha hadn't said that directly, she was sure that Seto knew to some effect that that would be happening. Going around to the back and removing the bags from the trunk just as carefully as she had put them in, as if they were porcelain, she gave them to each of the boys and said with a smile,

"Welcome to your new home; I hope you like it. And don't worry; it's not as much of a maze as you might think, once you've been around it for a while." Leading them inside, she had the butler, Mace, take their coats and give them the two pairs of slippers that she had had specially made for them. The pair for Seto was a navy blue that offset his eyes nicely, the heel that was about a quarter inch from the floor read in gold lettering 'Seto Kaiba'. The younger one's slippers were inscribed in a similar fashion with silver lettering that read 'Mokuba Kaiba', and his were a deep blueish gray [1] Walking down the hallway past the grand cherry oak staircase, she showed them around the first, second, and third floors; they were all sitting areas, dining areas, studies, libraries, private lounging rooms and the like. On the fourth floor were the bedrooms, and on the fifth, she simply told them that that was where the servants slept, and that later, if they wanted, she would introduce them to all of the hired help and show them around that floor too.

Walking along the fourth floor, she showed first Mokuba-san his room, which was in the center of the west wing, and each of the rooms flanking it were also his. The one to the left was a bathroom, but the one to the right, ah, that one, before she opened the door, Sasha said,

"This is a small gift to you Mokuba-san. I hope you like it; I designed it especially for you." Turning the gold knob on the cherry oak door, she pushed it open and allowed the younger Kaiba brother to look through. Gray eyes widened at what he saw. It was an entire game room, filled with every kind of arcade game, video game, board game, and any other kind of game that a kid could possibly want. Before he went zooming off at Sasha's ok nod, he registered her saying,

"I hope you don't mind that I tried out some of the arcade games; it's alright, isn't it?" Stopping in his tracks, he turned to her, and practically barreled her over in a hug that would most likely cut off her air supply, but she seemed pleased, as she returned his hug gently, and then, as he let go, she turned him around and patted his behind as he zoomed off in awe, saying,

"Now, go see if you can beat some of my high scores!" Her voice was so much more full of happiness than it had been even when she was playing a game with Mokuba in the orphanage, or having a discussion with Seto on the equations for trigonometry; she seemed genuinely ecstatic to have them there. Then, turning to Seto while Mokuba was busy, she said,

"Seto-san, I must apologize, but your room is on the next wing over from Mokuba-san's." at his harsh glare, she flinched, as she usually did when he was angry at her, but she quickly said, "My husband decided that it was necessary for you to be a little more separate than you were at the orphanage." His glare intensified, and she looked down to the ground, the same submissive stance that she had taken with Gozobaru, which was annoying him more than anything, and she said,

"But, I have a solution for that problem, though you can't tell my husband, because he will be absolutely furious that I went against his wishes in such a……blatant fashion. Please, before you get too angry with me, come this way." Walking back into Mokuba's room, she walked to the wall next to his bed which was, just that; a wall. That is, until she reached the nightstand, in which case, she placed her hand behind it and pressed a button. Then, soundlessly, part of the wall, maybe only two, two and a half feet wide, moved away to reveal a passageway. It was upholstered in the same white carpeting as Mokuba's bedroom, so that the passage way was hidden quite extensively. Gesturing him follow, he did, entering the passage way. Then, she stepped back to the wall they had entered through, and Seto saw a keypad on the wall with a red button underneath it, which she pushed, and the door closed. Immediately after it closed, it was lit with gentle fluorescent lights that didn't shock the eyes, but also didn't leave it dim in the hallway. Walking down the path, after a while, they came to the other end, and there was another keypad with a red button underneath it. She pushed this button also, and the light went out, and the wall slid open, revealing another room that was the same grand size as Mokuba's. Again, there were two rooms that flanked it, and so belonged to him. Also as Mokuba's, one was a bathroom. At this other room, she seemed to hesitate as she said,

"I-I'm not trying to win you over with possessions; I want you to know that. I just though that maybe you'd enjoy this, perhaps to help you adjust from coming here from the orphanage. It's not really much, but I tried to design it to what I thought you would like." Opening the door for him, she kept her head down and her eyes closed, as if waiting for a blow or a negative comment, though she got neither. Seto was too stunned to even breathe. Books. Hundreds upon hundreds of books, lining shelves made of solid cherry oak that filled the room, reaching the ceiling with ladders climbing up them. Rows upon rows of books. Walking in, completely dumbfounded, he ran his hands over some of the titles of the first row of books that were his eye height. _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Alice in Wonderland, _and_ The Wizard of Oz_ being some of the ones that he saw. Traveling further down, he saw a few more of the leather bound gold embossed titles that read _Shakespeare's Greatest Works, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Leer, _and _Romeo and Juliet_. Continuing over the vast quantities of shelves, he saw that there were books that ranged from History, to Geometry, to Science, to Math, to hundreds of languages, to fiction, to non fiction, to referense, to biography and autobiography. There was every kind of book imaginable there, all leather bound in hard cover and the titles were embossed in metallic lettering on the bindings. Continuing on, the shelves ended, and he received another surprise. To the right was a large cherry wood desk with a computer sitting atop it, booted up and using a scrolling screensaver which read in ice blue using a very standardized font 'Seto Kaiba's Personal Computer. Please Do Not Touch'. Further to the left was a thick table with a fully assembled black and ice blue chess set sitting on top of it. Walking over, amazed at it, he picked up the king, his favorite piece, and was in awe at the detail that was carved in the blue figurine. He assumed by weight and appearance alone that it was some kind of stone; possibly onyx, though this bluish color onyx was very rare. Behind that to the left was a reading alcove; there was a very plush and comfortable looking chair that as deep blue in color with a small end table sitting next to it with a light on it. That faced the left wall, where there was an elaborately carved cherry oak fireplace, with real logs and assumingly that was fully functional. On the table, Seto noticed as he walked closer, was a book that was bound in black leather and read in silver lettering on the binding '_The Sight_' by David Clemente-Davies [2]. When Sasha saw what he was looking at, she said in a rush,

"Oh, Kaiba-san, I'm sorry, I was reading that yesterday night, and I must have forgotten to put it back. I'll do that now." She took it from him as he offered it up, and he followed her as she went up a few rows, turned left and went towards the middle of the shelf, moving a ladder over and climbing up a few rungs to reach the only empty spot Seto had so far seen in the library. Climbing down after it was in place, Seto had to ask,

"How do you remember where that goes?" She smiled at him as she lead him back to where the fireplace and chair were and said,

"Well, it's hard for me not to remember; I placed every book myself." Seto went bug eyed, and at this she chuckled lightly, just so that she wasn't laughing at him per-se, she was simply amused at his expression. Then, as if she remembered something, she turned to the computer desk and said,

"I want to show you something though; if you're looking for a book in particular, this will come in handy." Moving the small blue mouse, the computer desktop came into focus, and Seto smirked as he saw a picture of Mokuba smiling was centered in the background, and the rest of it was a deep cerulean blue. Then, she double clicked on an icon that read "Catalogue" and had the picture of an open red-leather bound book. The program came up instantly, and listed what the top column counted as 2,650,039 books. She showed him how to search for a book by title, author, subject, and/or genre. Then, she said,

"If you can't find the book you're looking for, you can search my personal library as well, which is here (she clicked on view, other libraries, Sasha) and you do the same as for yours (it brought up 5,952,481 books) . If it's still not there, not that I really recommend this, but if you really need the book and don't have time to tell me to go and buy it for you, which I will, should you ever need anything, you can search my husband's library. (she clicked the same thing again, only instead of the last thing she clicked being 'Sasha', she went up another name on the list and clicked 'Master Kaiba' which brought up only 987,563 books) But I really wouldn't recommend you doing that unless it's an emergency; my husband doesn't like it when people move his things around without his knowledge, or even with his knowledge, for that matter." Turning back to face Seto, the serious look she had donned when speaking of her husband and facing the computer screen vanished as she smiled, and she said,

"Now, I'm sure that you have noticed that none of the six rooms that belong to you and Mokuba-san are personalized; they're all completely white. I was thinking that maybe tomorrow, we would go and pick out some things for your rooms, just so that you feel a little more at home. I didn't want to decorate them for you; it didn't seem right for me to, so I thought maybe you'd like to do it?" Seto nodded; he had noticed that every aspect of their rooms was white, save the cherry oak wood furniture. Someone really must like cherry oak, that's for sure; that was the only kind of wood Seto had seen in the house. Oak grain with a dark cherry stain covering it. Looking around the room for a second, he wasn't surprised as she challenged him to a chess match……

That night, after dinner, Sasha played with Mokuba and Seto in the game room and they were having a very good time, laughing and playing with all the energy of children (in which case, two of them were). But then, over a loudspeaker that was hidden near the ceiling of the room, a voice said,

"Miss. Sasha, it is eight o'clock now. You will be needing to leave by nine thirty." Immediately the laugh died in Sasha's throat, and the smile fell from her face as she said,

"Oh. Eight already? Alright. Thank you Mace. You should go and see your girls now; when I saw Emma this morning, she was asking for you. She's almost well enough to get out of bed." The energy seemed drained from her voice, as if this news really was not good at all. Then, she turned to Seto and Mokuba and said,

"I'm sorry; I forgot, I have to go to a dinner meeting with my husband, and I have to go and get ready." She seemed to try and smile for them, but really couldn't make herself. Then, she ruffled Mokuba's hair and said,

"I'd rather stay here with you guys though. I had a lot of fun today. You can do what you like until eight thirty, and somehow, I'll get away from Stacey and Ivana and send you off to bed." Seto noticed that she really didn't seem to like those two she just mentioned. She winced a bit as she said 'Stacey' and full out cringed when she said 'Ivana'. Then, she turned to Seto and almost reached out and ruffled his hair, but stopped as she got within half a foot of the ten year old's head, and instead smiled and said,

"Well, see you at nine then." And with that, she walked out quietly and shut the door behind her.

Half an hour later, Seto and Mokuba were in Mokuba's room, and Seto was reading him some more of the book "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland", which he had found in his library earlier. Just as he finished the third chapter he had read, which was about how many he read the little one when asked, he turned and almost jumped to see Sasha standing behind him quietly, apparently listening to him read. Seto was surprised at how different she looked now; apparently, Gozobaru wanted to show her off with his money, because she was far different from her normal conservative look.

Her long brown hair was braided and twisted and curled in a very elegant, though not at all subtle knot on top of her head, with a few perfect rings framing her face. There were now caramel colored highlights streaking it, along with a few darker chocolate colored streaks also; highlights and lowlights to make her hair look more…Seto guessed pretty, though he thought she looked fine the way she always dressed. The gown she wore was slim fit against her sculpted and curvy body, flattering her well-defined shape, and Seto could see that she was more than uncomfortable; she really didn't seem to like to be put on display. 

The dress was in an oriental style with a high button collar that fastened with a gold frog [3]. It looked to be silk, and was a very flattering emerald green that complemented her golden-tan colored eyes perfectly. It was edged in the same gold that made up the four frogs that fastened the top of the dress tightly, not showing any of her tan skin. At the bottom edge, above the gold edging, was an intricately embroidered mountain scene in the Chinese style, and along it was Kanji that were in Mandarin; a language that Seto couldn't read himself. It was long sleeved, and after her elbows, where previously it was slim cut to her arms, they belled out a bit, and then fastened with a cuff around her wrist and another gold frog. The same mountain scene was continued up on the sleeves, as the mountain stretched up to very near the bottom frog on the dress. There was a small slit up the let side of the dress that was a few inches high, whereas the dress fell just below her knees by about four inches. Flesh colored stocks were covering her legs, because they were a shade or two darker than her pleasantly paleish color, and on her feet were emerald flats that were almost in a slipper form, and they were silk like the dress, Seto could tell by looking. She had yet to don make-up, but she had still half an hour before she was to leave; he was sure she would be made to wear more color than he was ever used to seeing her wear; the only make up that he had ever seen her wear was a vanilla scented chap stick, and that had no color; it just remedied her chapped lips. She smiled at him and Mokuba, though the younger was sleeping, having just shut his eyes about a minute before. Setting the book on his bed stand, Seto said good night to his brother, who was just coherent enough to say something that sounded like 'mmm-hmmm'. Sasha smiled, running a gentle hand through his wild black hair that couldn't be tamed, even when the boy had spent ten minutes brushing it a short while earlier. The older Kaiba brother noticed that her nails were freshly lacquered with a matching emerald green, though he knew that her nails were real, and she only ever had a clear coat on them. She leaned down gently and kissed his forehead, and then, stood, following Seto to his room the long way; the young brunette had decided that he'd only use the passageway when it was a necessity.

Reaching his room, Seto climbed into bed and Sasha approached his side and said quietly,

"I know I'm not your mother, but someone has to tuck you in, right?" Then, she smiled and gently tapped him on the nose with one of her long, slender fingers in a very motherly way. Then, she surprised Seto by kissing him on the forehead, just a light brush, as if she didn't want to upset him, but couldn't really help herself. Then, she said,

"Oyasumi-nasai, Seto-san. Kokochiyoi Yume[4]." Seto then responded as she pulled the white comforter up to his chin,

"Goodnight Sasha." Then, she stood from her sitting position on the edge of his bed and exited, flicking off the light switch as she went. Then, Seto rolled over, intent on going to sleep……

Blinking awake, the ten year old groggily looked at the alarm clock next to his bed. 1:00 in the morning, and he couldn't sleep. He didn't know what woke him up, but he was up now. Sliding out of bed and putting his slippers on, he yawned and decided that maybe a walk would tire him out enough that he would sleep. It always used to in the orphanage when he would wake up at some god-awful hour of the night. Why wouldn't it now? Stepping out of his room an onto the thick white carpet of the fourth floor, he started walking around randomly, going down a flight of stairs and continuing his walk. Then, he heard a strange clicking sound. It almost sounded like someone typing on a computer, though it was muffled, so he couldn't really tell if it was or not. Deciding to find out what it was for lack of something better to do, he followed the sound, coming to a door that had light coming from under it, as if there was someone in there doing something. It could be Sasha; she could be up doing some late night web surfing or something. _But what if it's Gozobaru? You wouldn't want to run into him at this time of night, now would you?_ said a voice in his ear. He agreed with it, and then, turned to bypass the door, but stopped as a voice hissed, "ouch!" from the other side of the door, and the typing sound stopped. That sounded like a girl, and so, it could be Sasha, and if it isn't, then that's ok, because it was probably one of the staff members. Grasping the handle of the cherry oak door, he twisted it and opened the door to find none other than Sasha in the room. She was sitting at a chair that was faced towards the wall, and a laptop sat to her left on a desk that was at normal height, and she held in her right hand a paintbrush. To her right sat a table with a few cans out house paint and a white plate, which was mixing paint on. It looked like she had done something to cut her hand, because there were a few beads of red dripping off of her wrist. She calmly picked up a paper towel and pressed it to the back of her hand, rolling back the cuff of the emerald green turtleneck she now wore to get to it. Then, she turned to the computer screen and began furiously typing on the keyboard for about a minute. After that, she turned and dipped her brush in the paint she had mixed on the plate in the center of the table, adding a few strokes to the wall, though Seto was at just an angle that he couldn't see what she was painting. Stepping into the room, Sasha was just turning back to the computer, but twisted the other way towards the door and saw the brunette, smiling at him.

She stood, setting down the paper towel that she had pressed to the back of her right hand on the table and saying,

"What's up Seto-san? Couldn't you sleep?" Icy eyes seemed to say, 'well duh' as he answered in a slightly groggy, though somehow still controlled and annoyed all at the same time tone,

"No. I thought I'd go for a walk, and I saw the light on." She smiled and asked him,

"Well, would you like to finish your walk, or chat with, or something else?" Seto blinked and then said,

"Aren't you busy? I was going to leave if you were." She shook her head with another smile and said,

"No, this report doesn't have to be done for another few hours; I can procrastinate." Seto stepped forward and asked,

"What're you painting?" She turned to the wall and Seto for the first time saw what it was. It was a large red rose entwined with a Chinese style dragon. It was drawn in pencil, and was only partially painted; the top half was done, and she was finishing the bottom. The detail work was surprisingly good; you could see the scales on the dragon's hide, and the veins that went through the rich petals of the rose.

"It's just something to do to break up the work time; I can't seem to sit still for hours on end without some variation in what I'm doing." Came her voice from behind him. "It'll be gone almost as soon as I finish it though." Blinking at her, icy eyes asked the question on the brunette's mind.

"My husband thinks that I shouldn't paint on the walls and waste space, and so when I finish, it's re-painted with white house paint, and I start over with something else." Somehow, Seto wasn't surprised that Gozobaru would destroy anything that Sasha did that wasn't good for his image or his company. Then, another thought crossed the ten year old's mind.

"Why are you still up? It's 1:00, and you don't look like you couldn't sleep." She smiled back at him and set her left hand on the keyboard of the computer, typing a bit as she said, still looking at Seto,

"Well, I have to get some work done that I couldn't today; it happens sometimes, but it's not such a big deal. By the time I finish this, I should get (she looks at her computer for the first time and reads the clock before turning back to Seto) about three or four hours of sleep, which is more than enough." Seto looked at her as if she was mad, and she very well could have been. She needed at least six hours of sleep a night; eight was better. He had read that in a book once, and had proceeded to make sure Mokuba got more than enough sleep to keep him healthy.

"That's no where near enough sleep. It's half what you should have." Seto stated, wondering where in the world she got her logic from. She pushed a strand of hair from her face and stopped typing, saying,

"Well, I know it's not normally enough sleep for anyone, but I've grown used to getting an hour or two of sleep over the past few weeks, and so, it's perfectly fine." Seto, looking confused, said,

"What do you mean over the past few weeks?" She got a strange look in her eyes, as if she had just let something very big slip, and then amended,

"It's nothing important, really Seto-san-." She cut off as he fixed her with a pointed look that said that he was not going to take that as an answer. Sighing, she said with a wavering smile,

"Well, before you were adopted, I knew that I wanted to home school Mokuba-san and spend time with both of you, and so, I knew that I wouldn't get in the normal 12 hour work day that I usually did. This in mind, I started to train myself to sleep less, because I'd have to do my normal bought of work after nine and before six thirty, which is when you'll have to get up." Seto blinked. She changed her entire sleeping schedule for them? That was……more than nice. It was, insanely self-sacrificing; Seto had no idea how she did that and still wore a smile throughout the entire day when she was with them. He had no idea she only got such a limited amount of sleep every night. Then, she said before he could react,

"Now, I think you should go to sleep; you want to be fresh to keep up with that little energy ball of a brother tomorrow, because we're going to the mall." Smiling, she ushered him back up to his room, and he got the hint that he shouldn't comment on the sacrifice that she made for them. Then, another thought came. _What other things does she do for us that I don't know about if she's willing to change her entire life style to make sure that we have at least one steady companion?_ Making it to Seto's room, the little brunette wasn't even close to being tired, and somehow, Sasha knew this. Tucking him in, she said,

"Would you like me to read you a story, or are you too old for that?" he gave her a look that said, 'no shit I'm too old to be babied'. She smiled at this and let out a small chuckle, and then she said,

"Well, would you just sit and listen to a song that I've been learning from my voice instructor? You don't have to like it; I just want someone's input that I know will be honest." After a second, Seto nodded; what could the harm be in critiquing a song that she was learning to sing? He would probably be up for a while anyway, so why not do something to pass the time; there was really nothing better. Then, she started in a gentle, calming voice:

__

Sweet little baby, don't you cry.

I'll rock my own sweet child to sleep,

In a cradle of cold on the bow of the river

To the shouting of the wind of the West,

And the moon above the soft sweet river.

Sleep baby dear, sleep without fear.

Mother is here, beside your pillow,

Lullaby, lullaby.

Sweet little baby, Don't you cry.

I'll put my own sweet child to sleep,

In a silver boat on the beautiful river,

Where shall he whisper the white cast gaze,

Of the moon upon the green fleshed-river. [5]

Seto's eyelids drooped heavily. She had a very pretty voice; it was calm and reassuring. As his brown hair drooped to the side and his eyelids won the battle for closing, the last thing he heard her sing was,

__

Mother is here, with you forever……

TBC……

MnS: So, what do you think? Any good?

KnH: I liked the lullaby scene.

MnS: ^_^ So did I!! That's my favorite lullaby in the world (see footnote for why)

KnH: Well, R'n'R and she'll update some more! ^_^

MnS: ^_^ Yep!! I will!

Footnotes:

1 - Does anyone have a clue what Mokuba's eye color is? I thought it was gray, but I'm not positive……^^;;

2 - I love this book. Go read it ^_^!! It's about wolves, in their perspective!! It's really, really cool. If you're a wolf fanatic like me, you'll think you've died and gone to heaven.

3 - This is what those knotty looking fastenings on silk/oriental style clothes are called…^^; weird, huh?

4 - This means "Goodnight Seto. Sweet (Pleasant) Dreams."

5 - This is a traditional irish lullaby that my grandmother used to sing to me when I was little…^_^ I liked it, so I used it ^_^.


	4. Chapter 4: It's the same old routine or...

MnS: Sorry I haven't updated in so long, but now that I've had a day off of school, I'm ready and raring to write a nice long chapter!

Seto: Great. Just freekin' great.

MnS: :P Do the disclaimer Seto-kun!

Seto: -_-' Megami no Shi doesn't own Yu-gi-oh.

MnS: Thanx!! ^_^

Seto: -_-'

MnS: Oh, and before I forget, thanx to all of you reviewers. Anya (Dragon Master's Mistress' Yami) thanx much for the kind word!! Oh, and Broken Void-End of Infinity? This chapter is for you, because I DUN WANNA DIE!! ^^;; Lol. Now, Onto the fic!!

Chapter 4: It's the same old routine … or is it?

//

__

Mother is here, with you forever……

//

When he woke next, it was to the same gentle voice belonging to the young brunette girl.

"Seto-san? Wake up. I know it's a bit early, but you have to get up; we've a big day today." Seto blinked and sat up , completely awake within seconds. He never was a "morning person", but then, he never was an "afternoon person" or a "night person" either, and so, he was in his normal "get the hell away from me" mode. Smiling a him, Sasha lead the way back to Mokuba's room, not that he needed to be shown. She hadn't yet woken the raven haired boy, but soon Seto had that taken care of, and they were off……

……The morning was really uneventful. They sat at a table in one of the kitchens and had pancakes, which Sasha had cooked because she had told them that most of the cooks had off on Saturday and Sunday, save when dinner was made, when each of the four worked one of the Saturdays and one of the Sundays per month.

After they had eaten, they had all taken showers, dressed, and left for the mall in the convertible black Diablo that they had traveled in the day previous. Seto really, _really_ hated shopping anywhere, any time, under any circumstance. He found nothing interesting in it at all, and it was simply a miserable experience of pulling clothes on and off a million times so that one could take maybe a dozen articles home if that. Completely inefficient and pointless if you asked him. But, since we're not asking him, let's get on with the story, shall we? ^_^ (Seto: HEY!)

Getting to the huge shopping complex, Sasha finds a parking space after a few minutes, and parking, lets them all out with a smile. Her sweater today was a pale lime green, and she wore a pair of comfortable looking black slacks with the same comfortable white sneakers she had worn in the winter. Making it into the mall, she immediately steered a course towards JC Penny, in which case she went directly to the boy's department, not window shopping for herself and making no detours. Almost as if she didn't like shopping either. Her pace wasn't fast; Mokuba could easily keep up, but she did seem to know exactly where she was going and she didn't seem to want to do any access looking.

Once there, she told them they could look around as they wanted, and if they found something, to tell her, and she would carry it for them so that they could continue looking. Seto vaguely looked around, though he was bored out of his mind, and spotted a navy colored sweater that he thought was ok, and, rather than make this total trip a waste, went and picked up a medium in it, testing a sleeve to see that it would fit well enough. Carrying the hanger with the shirt on it, he picked up a few more things that he thought looked alright, though he didn't really looking, and he went to find Sasha to see how she was fairing with Mokuba.[1]

Finding the brunette looking thoroughly amused at the little black haired boy, Seto saw that he was zooming around in an insane bought of energy, looking at everything and touching even more. Sasha was holding six pairs of pants and roughly ten shirts, and Mouba added and added and added, more-so ecstatic that he could have new things than that he couldn't live without all of the clothes. An hour later, Mokuba was all energied-out, and by that time, he had exchanged things and added, and taken things away from Sasha and zoomed about, knocking over more than one mannequin because he was just having a great time. It was actually almost comical; Seto had smiled a few times at his brother's antics, while Sasha had openly giggled at his activities.

Then, Sasha went to pay for everything that they had picked out, which totally consisted of 16 pairs of pants, six pairs of shoes, and some twenty-odd shirts. Seto didn't see the price, but because they were in a department store, he could only imagine. Leaving there, the next stop was surprisingly, Lowes. At this, Seto questioned her, and she replied,

"I told you that your rooms really aren't personalized; all they are are white on cherry-mahogany. You can pick whatever you like to decorate your bedrooms, and we'll work on them together; I thought it would be more fun than having someone do it for us." Saying nothing more, they followed her into the store, and then, started off………

…….that was three years ago, and things have gone well since then. Seto blinked slightly awake, and stared at the blue of the pillowcase, reminiscing about the past three years…

This is pretty much how it went every day of the five day week: In the mornings, the three ate breakfast together, sometimes joining some of the other hired help if they were up at six o'clock. Then, Gozobaru took the prompt hours of 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm to teach Seto, and so, around 7:00 am was when they showered, and dressed. Then, Sasha, Mokuba, and Seto all went to Gozobaru's study/office/library. From there, Sasha and Mokuba would go to either her small side office that was through a very thin door, or they would sit somewhere out of the way in Gozobaru's workshop, if that's where they happened to be working, and Sasha would teach Mokuba as a tutor, rather than send him off to public school.

For some reason, Seto had noticed, Sasha was always within earshot if Seto was working with Gozobaru, though he couldn't understand why. Sure, the man was callous and strict, but Seto did everything he was told, if only for Sasha to thank her for getting them out of that god-awful orphanage. After lunch at noon, there was more teaching/learning. Then, from 3:00 to 6:30 was do anything you want time. 

At this point in time, they were more than sick of sitting still and learning things, and so now as a time to stretch their legs and just plain have fun. Sasha would always stay and hang out with them, letting them do anything they wanted to, no matter what it was, as long as it wasn't dangerous or illegal or something (A/N: ^_^;;;). As far as both of the boys and Sasha were concerned, it was the best time of the day. They did everything from ice skating to swimming, to horseback riding…… in the summer time, they would sometimes go to Sasha's garden; the one that she grew and tended herself, and just hang out under the big shady trees and talked. Most of the time, Mokuba ended up falling asleep, and Sasha and Seto just laid under the tree they happened to choose to sit under and didn't talk; were just content to be among friends. In the winter, when they couldn't really go outside everyday, they'd lay in front of the fire in one of the libraries and read books to each other and had fun, simply making each other laugh and being carefree, as children should be.

Then, at six-thirty was when they ate dinner, though Gozobaru never joined them for any meetings other than Seto's schooling. Then from about seven to eight thirty (unless Sasha had to go to a dinner party with Gozobaru), they would spend time winding down and just relaxing; none of them really watched television, though there were a good number of them in the house. They just sat and talked or read or played a game or did light studying if Seto or Mokuba had some trouble with a particular part of their schooling. From about eight-thirty to nine was bathing and getting pajamas on, and at nine, Seto would read Mokuba's a few chapters of a book before whishing him a goodnight and Sasha tucking the younger Kaiba brother in. Then, Sasha would walk Seto to his room where she would wait for him to get in bed, then pull the blankets up for him. After that, every day for Seto would end with her saying,

"I know I'm not your mother, but someone has to tuck you in, right?" then, she would smile, tap him on the nose, kiss his forehead, and say,

"Oyasumi-nasai, Seto-san. Kokochiyoi yume." And he would repeatedly respond with,

"Good night Sasha." And roll over as she stood, exiting his room and closing the door behind her after flicking off the light. Sometimes Seto would wake up and find her in the same office as always, doing some kind of work, though she always got him to go back to bed before she did, no matter how determined he was to stay awake with her, just to see how much sleep she really got. That was how everyday went for 3 entire years, and every day, Sasha became more and more of a mother to them in any way she could, and both Kaiba boys loved her greatly for it. Today however, we'll see how one small thing can rock the orbit of everything that seemed to be set in stone……

Seto yawned slightly and sat up. It was five-fifty seven; Sasha would be in in exactly three minutes. As predicted, she was, and the day started off as normal. Eat at six. Dress at seven. At eight, lessons. Noon, lunch. And then, the second set of lessons came. For some reason, this afternoon, Gozobaru was more irritable than usual, and for some reason, Seto could not wire the circuitry in the mainframe section that he was building for the new master computer at Kaiba Corp. Finally, after taking out, re-adjusting and wiring 16 times on the same base board plate, the eldest Kiba got fed up with Seto. Considering that he was only 12 (he'd turn 13 the next day), he was doing very well, although, Gozobaru didn't even consider his age; he was absolutely furious.

After yelling at Seto countless times for his seeming 'incompetence', he was about to strike the brunette, as had happened before, and as had always happened, Sasha seemed to appear from nowhere and intervened quietly, this time with,

"K-kaiba-sama? P-please don't. He's trying his very best; he really is. P-perhaps if you taught him complex circuitry a different way -."

"Fine then," growled the looming man, as he always did when he was this fed up with the brunette and Sasha interceded, "You teach him how to." So, Sasha leaned down next to Seto, and 10 minutes later, stood back up and said,

"M-master? May I be permitted back to teaching Mokuba-san?" Gozobaru glared pointedly at her, and she visibly shook, and as always, practically bolted out of the room and back to the small office she was tutoring Mokuba in today. Seto shrugged it off; she usually got there before Gozobaru had a chance to strike him. He had only truly been cuffed by the owner of Kaiba corporation once, and that was because he had refused to listen to Sasha's pleas one day……

Later, around 4:00, while Mokuba and Seto were playing in Mokuba's game room a 2 player arcade game and Sasha was cheering them on, blue turtle neck stretching to accommodate for her jumping up and down, a voice came over the loudspeaker,

"Sasha; East wing office. Now." Gozobaru. Whenever Sasha had protested his teaching methods, Gozobaru had called Sasha down to his East Wing office, Seto thought most likely for a word of reprimand. She stopped what she was doing, said that she was going to be back soon, and then, had left, as always. But today, a few minutes later, Mokuba said to his brother,

"Sasha told me how to work this, but I can't remember." He was holding a new toy that Seto had never seen before; he would need Sasha's instruction on how to work it.

"I'll go find her Mokuba; you can play something else while I'm gone." said Seto, leaving the room. He didn't think Gozobaru would mind that much if he asked Sasha a question while he was scolding her; it would only take a second, and it's not like he'd really be _disturbing_ them. Walking to the East Wing, he decided that that's most likely where Sasha was, because she had only left a few minutes before he had. Making it to the door where he knew Gozobaru's office to be, he was about to knock on the partially open door, when he heard Gozobaru yell in quite an angry tone,

"You're going to wish you never made that deal to accept those boys. And interfering with my teaching again? Will you never learn? You'll again get what he would have had you left us be. I'll finish with you later; midnight as always." _SLAP!_ Icy eyes widening, the 13-year-old looked into the room through the crack of the door that was partially open, and when he saw shocked him to the core. Sasha stood, back to him, but she was not wearing the turtle neck she had had on previously; she wore a thin cotton tank top of the same color as the cobalt turtleneck. But, he was gaping at the skin that he was seeing for the first time ever.

There were scars and bruises and lacerations covering her arms from her shoulders to a few inches below her elbows, and they were all over her neck and what Seto could see of her back. This is why she wore a turtle neck all of the time; she didn't want anyone to know about it. _Oh my gods_……thought Seto, remembering the many times that she had stuck up for him when Gozobaru was angry enough to hit him. Another hard slap landed on her face, snapping her head to the side sharply. Then, he told her to go.

With that, Sasha picked up her turtle neck from somewhere that Seto couldn't see from his spot and turned as if to leave. Seto was surprised however, that not a tear looked even detectable flickering in her eyes, though he could see red rivers running down her arms in a few places, telling him that Gozobaru had recently assaulted her. He had never, ever seen her cry, no matter what had happened to her. 

Then, he quickly ran down the hall and stood around the corner. A second later, the brunette woman re-entered the hallway and walked towards the spying 12 year old, and then, into a door on the opposite side of the hall. When Seto tiptoed past the closed door, blue trench coat billowing slightly (Sasha had given it to him for his eleventh birthday, and it was his favorite coat), he heard the sound of running water and a hitch of breath before he walked swiftly past, making his way back to Mokuba's game room……

……For the rest of the day, Seto was preoccupied with this new knowledge he had acquired, so much so that numerous times, he was asked if he was alright by both Sasha and Mokuba. He had always answered that he was fine, but then, he would always see Sasha looking at him out of the corner of his eye, a concerned, sort of, suspicious look in those gold-hued eyes. Besides that, however, the rest of the day went on as always; until bedtime that is.

"I know I'm not your mother, but someone has to tuck you in, right?" Sasha said in routine, pulling the blue comforter up for him. But, before she could complete the ritual and tap him on the nose, Seto asked,

"Sasha?" A bit startled because he almost never interrupted their nightly ceremony, she blinked her clear gold eyes once before saying,

"Yes Seto-san? What's up" She sat down on the edge of his bed gently, something she had never before dared to attempt, and waited for the 12-almost-13-year-old to finish what he wanted.

"You wouldn't lie to me. Ever. Right?" He asked. He chose his words carefully, so that she wouldn't be able to figure out what he was talking about until he chose for her to become aware of it. She nodded and said,

"Yes, you're right. I'd never tell you a lie or half truth; only the whole truth. What brought that question about Seto-san?" he took a slight breath, trying to figure out how to ask her about what he had seen without her knowing that he had been unintentionally spying on her. Finally, he said,

"I was wondering, why do you always wear long sleeved turtle necks and long pants and skirts? I've never seen you wear anything other than long sleeves, high collars, and long skirts, and I can't conceive why you do that, no matter what the temperature or what we're doing." Eyes dampening, she closed the honey drops for a moment and sighed tiredly, trembling just slightly, almost unnoticeably, and her slim fingers clenched the thick blue comforter slightly. Seto heard her mutter something that he was sure she didn't want him to hear; she muttered almost unintelligibly, 'I knew this day would come…and I put off coming up with how to explain it…' Finally though, she looked up at him and her eyes, though cloudy with a mist of tears, were some how clear, and full of what could be called remorse; sadness.

"I…I can't give you that answer _because_ I will never lie to you Seto. I'm sorry; no one can discover it, and I will not tell stories to explain it. Just know that it is not something that I can tell freely." She said, kissing him gently on the forehead. She left quickly, only a bare utterance of the words,

"Kokochiyoi yume." Was all Seto heard as the room was left empty and the light was left on……

Startling awake, Seto wondered what woke him. Looking at the clock, he saw that it read 12:10. Now, this wouldn't have fazed the child if he hadn't remembered something that Gozobaru had said. _"I'll finish with you later; midnight as always."_ Was what Gozobaru had said to Sasha that afternoon. Then, a strange sound caught his attention. It almost sounded like a yelp, but not quite. Somehow, _different_. Slipping out of bed, the brunette, forever curious, decided that that's what woke him, and so, wanted to know what it was.

Prowling down the hallway after he slipped on his navy blue trench coat, (he really, _really_ liked it.), he went in the direction that he thought the sound came from. But, when he heard it again, it seemed to come from the other direction, and so, a bit annoyed that his hears weren't as good as he thought they were, he turned around and started in the other direction, passing his room again and taking his digital watch with him on a whim.

Continuing in the Easterly direction that he heard the sound coming from, he turned down the stairs on the South Wing, thinking that it had come from below him when he heard it again. But, as he got there, instinct told him that he had come the wrong way, and so, he went back up the stairs and continued down the hall. By now, it was about twenty after midnight, and he was still a bit far from the sound. Ten minutes later, however, he was on the West wing heading North, and he was very pleased with himself, because he seemed to be closing in on whatever was making that sound. Continuing down the hall a bit farther, and he found himself only a few doors from where he thought the sound came from, when a door opened a small way down the hall and slammed. Diving behind a potted plant that was about twice his size, Seto held his breath as the person walked past his hiding place, and as he kept going, Seto saw that it was indeed Gozobaru Kaiba. Puzzling about this, he continued down the hall and opened the door that the elder Kaiba had come out of, it having bounced back instead of closing from the force of the slam, and it wasn't closed all the way.

Blinking in the darkness that shrouded the room, not helped by the blackness of the hallway he entered from, he had to wait for his eyes to adjust before he could see what was in the room. What he saw however, made his mouth drop and froze him dead in his tracks……

TBC…

Seto: So, what did I see?

MnS: I thought you HATED this story and didn't want me to finish it.

Seto: I do hate it, and I don't want you to finish it, but I do want to know what I saw.

MnS: Nope, not until I get some more reviews!

KnH: R'n'R to find out what's going on!

Footnotes:

1 - See, this is before he's all control-freakish about Mokuba, which does eventually get explained in this fic, you'll just have to wait for it…^_^


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